Thursday, June 02, 2016

The Wrong Messenger

If you think bashing the Fourth Estate is dangerous for our country, you might want a better spokesman for the notion than this guy:

Dan Rather took to Facebook on Wednesday to condemn Donald Trump's “tirade” against the media earlier in the week and defend the necessity of a free and critical press.

“I felt a shudder down my spine yesterday watching Donald Trump's fusilade against the press. This is not a moment to be trifled with. It wasn't his first tirade and it won't be his last,” the former CBS Evening News anchor said in a seven-paragraph post, which has already been shared more than 12,000 times.

CBS News apologized Monday for a “mistake in judgment” in its story questioning President Bush’s National Guard service, claiming it was misled by the source of documents that several experts have dismissed as fakes.

The network said it would appoint an independent panel to look at its reporting about the memos. The story has mushroomed into a major media scandal, threatening the reputations of CBS News and chief anchor Dan Rather.

It also has become an issue in the presidential campaign. The White House said the affair raises questions about the connections between CBS’s source, retired Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett, and Democrat John Kerry’s campaign.

Rather joined CBS News President Andrew Heyward in issuing an apology Monday.

“We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry,” Rather said. “It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.”

That was twelve years ago and Rather ultimately left CBS because of his conduct. The "good faith" part? Well, that was crap. It wasn't. There's been no good faith in American journalism in a long time. And CBS wasn't misled. They were attempting to mislead.

Trump is a danger -- I remain convinced of it. But you can't defend an empire of crap and Dan Rather and his ilk are a big part of the reason why Trump is able to make headway. And the shoddy practices continue, as we have learned recently:

Katie Couric has reversed course and taken responsibility for an edit that misrepresents the response of gun rights activists to a question she poses in a new documentary.

The segment in "Under the Gun" shows nearly 10 seconds of silence after Couric asks the activists how felons or terrorists could be prevented from purchasing a gun without background checks.

Audio of the exchange leaked last week reveals an almost immediate response to the question.

If you have a bunch of liars attempting to call out Trump on his lies, it's just not gonna work.